Distr. LIMITED LC/L.3378(CEA.6/6) 12 October 2011 ENGLISH ORIGINAL: SPANISH

Transcription

1 Distr. LIMITED LC/L.3378(CEA.6/6) 12 October 2011 ENGLISH ORIGINAL: SPANISH Sixth meeting of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Bávaro, Dominican Republic November 2011 REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON GENDER STATISTICS OF THE STATISTICAL CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAS OF THE ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

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3 1 Name of working group and coordinator Member countries and other participants Results of the programme of work: summary of the results and outputs to be presented at the sixth meeting of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Working Group on Gender Statistics - Mexico The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and the Plurinational State of Bolivia. This group, coordinated by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) of Mexico, incorporates the perspectives of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the National Institute of Women (INMUJERES) of Mexico and the Division for Gender Affairs of ECLAC. This report was prepared on the basis of responses from 22 countries and territories. 1 Information was sought from both national mechanisms for the advancement of women and national statistical offices. The reports contained details of the progress made, which were used to update information on the working group s principle themes: time-use, measurement and valuation of unpaid work, and measurement of poverty and violence. These represent the subjects currently in need of consolidation from a gender perspective. In addition, given that demographic censuses are fundamental to structural incorporation of the gender perspective, the work of the 2010 census round was monitored. (a) Time-use Among ECLAC member countries, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Spain have made the most progress on the subject of timeuse, whether because surveys have already been carried out or because a normative framework is already in place, as in Peru and Colombia. While Cuba pioneered this kind of study in the region, it is backed by legislation in Colombia and a draft bill has been proposed in Costa Rica to incorporate the contribution of unpaid work into the system of national accounts. There is a group of countries at an intermediate stage that have developed a specific module, generally included in household surveys: this group comprises El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Uruguay. Brazil, the Cayman Islands and Colombia obtain information on time-use through specific questions in their household surveys, such as Number of hours spent on domestic chores. It is important to highlight the efforts of countries such as the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Panama, Paraguay and Suriname to devise and implement national time-use surveys, with the participation of national mechanisms for the advancement of women and national statistics and census institutes. These initiatives are supported by bodies such as the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women and ECLAC. In August 2011, Mexico presented a satellite account of unpaid work in households , making it the first country in the region with this account in its national accounting system. 1 Barbados, Belize, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Brazil, the Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Spain, Suriname, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Uruguay.

4 2 There is a consensus that the international time-use meetings organized by UN Women in coordination with INEGI, INMUJERES and the Division for Gender Affairs of ECLAC, have played a crucial role in the development of statistics on time-use and unpaid work; the theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions made at these meetings have been extremely useful in the development of gender statistics in the region. (b) Measuring violence On the subject of measuring violence against women, countries present a very heterogeneous picture. Some experiences of recording and quantifying cases demonstrate that progress is often limited by the resources available in the country; other experiences reveal the advances made in conducting surveys. Mexico is one of the most advanced countries in the region in the measurement of violence. It has conducted two national surveys on violence (ENDIREH 2003 and 2006): ENDIREH 2006 used as a reference the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the national law on violence against women. The information provided by the surveys on violence against women has been extremely useful for planning and budgeting public policies aimed at eradicating gender-based violence, and for institution-building. This year, INEGI is planning to conduct ENDIREH 2011, which will measure progress in this area. Ecuador is also planning to conduct a national survey on domestic violence in Spain is also making progress on measuring violence and relating this to public policy. Owing to the scale of the violence, a number of measures have been taken to protect victims and punish attackers, and different sources of information are used. Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Uruguay receive information from surveys on violence conducted in sectors such as education, health, security and justice, all of which contain questions on violence against women from different perspectives. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is working on a proposal to combine information on cases of violence against women in a single register; Colombia is developing a national observatory on violence; Costa Rica is proposing to revive the unified system for the statistical measurement of gender-based violence; and Mexico is developing a proposal for standardizing in states public prosecutor s offices the registers of murders and crimes involving physical or sexual violence. (c) Poverty Limited progress has been made on measuring poverty from a gender perspective; some countries, such as Mexico, have managed to perform regular multi-dimensional measurements of poverty from a gender perspective, while others are just beginning to explore this. Colombia is working to measure poverty from a gender perspective with the support of the AECID, while Panama has studied the gender profile of its economy. (d) Institutionalized tasks in national statistical offices Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico conduct a set of regular household surveys that incorporate the gender perspective (on occupation and employment, income and spending, and security). In Chile, Ecuador and Mexico work has also been done on facility surveys, disaggregating data by sex and introducing the gender perspective.

5 3 (e) Strengthening the ties between producers and users of information Ecuador has a Commission for Gender Statistics to coordinate the generation of statistical information from this angle; the National Statistics Institute of Guatemala has a Gender and Population Unit. Mexico has a Specialized Technical Committee on Gender Information, which is part of the National Statistical and Geographical Information System; Paraguay set up a Gender Unit within its Department of Statistics, Surveys and Censuses, while the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has a Subcommittee for Gender Statistics. (f) Population censuses: 2010 round Mexico carried out its demographic census in 2010 and circulated the results in March The results from the 2010 census in the Cayman Islands are also ready. Brazil is hoping to present its results in September 2011 and Costa Rica is at the processing stage. Of the countries that have responded on this point but have not yet gathered any information, the majority are planning to conduct the census corresponding to the 2010 round sometime in Mechanisms for the advancement of women in Barbados and the Turks and Caicos Islands are incorporated into advisory committees, enabling them to advocate for the inclusion of the gender perspective and of relevant questions to improve what we know about the circumstances of women in those countries. (g) Other activities The countries reported on other relevant activities and initiatives carried out in the statistical domain, relating to the subject of gender: Colombia ran the third International Diploma Course on Gender Statistics and Indicators and the National Diploma Course on Gender Statistics and Indicators. Ecuador incorporated into its Economic Census for 2010 questions on women s participation in economic establishments and in paid and unpaid activities. El Salvador has at its disposal a small budget for generating gender statistics and indicators, thanks to the Women s Parliamentary Group. In Guatemala, two blended learning courses have been delivered. These were prepared by UN Women, with the support of specialists from the Division for Gender Affairs of ECLAC and other experts in the field. The course has been evaluated and more are planned for the region. In late 2011, a workshop will be organized for facilitators, so that the course can be run in more countries of the region. Mexico conducted its National Survey on Discrimination in A gender perspective was incorporated by introducing a special module for women. In 2009, Paraguay set up a Gender Unit within its Department of Statistics, Surveys and Censuses. Suriname is conducting research into gender equality, gender relations and the situation of women, with the support of UN Women. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela organized two courses on gender statistics.

6 4 Programme of work Description of objectives General objective For the period , the Working Group on Gender Statistics is maintaining its goal of promoting the production, development and systematization of statistical information and gender indicators, as well as their dissemination and use in public policy throughout the region. Specific objectives These remain the same as in : (a) Provide training to national statistical offices in order to promote the development of technical, methodological and analytical capacities with regard to gender statistics. (b) Strengthen partnerships between national statistical offices and mechanisms for the advancement of women. (c) Foster cooperation, international technical assistance and regional collaboration for the development and dissemination of gender statistics. Once again, the priority themes are time-use and the measurement and valuation of unpaid work in the System of National Accounts; statistics on violence against women; and the measurement of poverty from a gender perspective. For the period , particular attention will be paid to devising economic statistics that reflect advances in the empowerment and economic autonomy of women, and a conceptual revision of the regular sources of socio-economic information to standardize terminology and harmonize theoretical and methodological frameworks. The Working Group on Gender Statistics considers that the working groups of the Statistical Conference of the Americas need to make a concerted effort to work together over the next period. In particular, closer cooperation is needed with the Working Group on National Accounts, the Working Group on Institution-building and the Working Group on the Monitoring of Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. The Knowledge Transfer Network offers opportunities for consolidating methodological advances, capacity-building and greater exchange and participation, and this should be exploited to the full. With regard to training staff to produce high-quality gender statistics and introduce this perspective into national statistical systems, the group considers that regular courses on gender statistics are vital, whether these take the form of classroom-based, distance or blended learning.

7 5 2. Main activities proposed for the period , including the countries and organizations in charge and likely dates of execution Activities 2 A planning meeting will be arranged to establish a detailed schedule and programme of activities for A workshop discussion will be organized on the first satellite account on unpaid work prepared by Mexico. Two international meetings on time-use will be held in 2012 and Two international meetings on gender statistics will be held in 2012 and Action will be taken to promote blended learning and distance learning courses on gender statistics. Technical assistance for countries in the region will be increased. In charge INEGI - UN Women - INMUJERES - ECLAC - Division for Gender Affairs of ECLAC 2 These may include: training activities; seminars and workshops; textbooks, handbooks and technical recommendations; evaluations and thematic studies; horizontal cooperation; preparation of indicators and databases; formulation of regional or subregional strategies, and project development.